I REALLY admire the way Gareth Southgate is fronting up and taking the flak for his England team.
After the 0-0 draw with Slovenia, a second consecutive frustrating and disappointing performance, he could have gone straight to the locker room and yelled and got angry with the world.
Instead he went over to the England fans, even though he knew they were far from happy.
He confronted the situation and he thanked them for their support.
Even though a few of them threw plastic beer glasses at him, many more will have appreciated that gesture.
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That shows Gareth’s strength of character. Deflecting criticism from your players is part of a manager’s job — especially during a tournament.
Everyone prefers compliments to boos. We’re all human beings. But when that criticism comes, you need broad shoulders.
Gareth has that, as a seasoned tournament manager.
Like Gareth, I’ve lived through many major tournaments as a player and a manager.
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They have a unique intensity and that intensity is what you live for I love tournaments for precisely those sorts of moments.
Dealing with these extreme emotions, knowing you have little time to turn things around but always knowing it is possible.
Every fan is so pumped up for tournaments that they expect you to go out and play the other team out of the stadium, scoring three or four goals, but it so rarely happens.
You have to make sure everyone in the group from the bus driver to the press officer to the centre-forward is united in belief.
You and your fellow coaches have to make sure you develop a fighting environment within the group.
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It’s not a ‘siege mentality’. That’s too negative. Gareth knows the world is not against him and his team.
It’s about confronting negative moments, regrouping and getting fired up for the next opponents.
Sure, England haven’t played well in their last two matches but they have topped the group and the draw has been kind to them.
I am sure they will beat Slovakia on Sunday and then as soon as you’ve won a knockout game, the whole nation begins to hope and there is more unity.
After the group stage, it is reboot time. It’s like a new tournament.
Against Slovenia, England had so little space but I was in Los Angeles earlier this week to see Brazil v Costa Rica in the Copa America and that was very similar.
It ended as a 0-0 draw in which Costa Rica parked the bus and cramped out the Brazilians.
In the group stages of tournaments many ‘smaller’ teams will play this way.
They will sacrifice everything to defend their goal and rely on the occasional counter-attack.
If you cannot unlock that packed defence, it is a nightmare. Unless you can score that damned first goal, it is hugely frustrating for players, coaches and fans.
It’s not just England who have struggled. France and Belgium have struggled, too, and hosts Germany suffered badly before they drew with Switzerland.
In the knockout stage, it is different. Even defensive-minded teams have to come out of their shells.
Trying to defend for 120 minutes in the hope of penalties is just not sustainable.
When games open up, England can thrive and a positive vibe can return.
It is hard for supporters of England, Germany and France to swallow but the so-called lesser teams can make life really miserable for you.
But tournaments are all about winning — and if you win one, few people tend to remember how you won it.
There are countless examples but I always remember Italy at the 2006 World Cup — who beat my Germany side in extra-time in the semi-finals and beat France on penalties in the final.
The Italians should have lost to Australia in the round of 16, as the Aussies were denied a clear penalty, and they scored 70 per cent of their goals in that tournament from set-pieces.
But they ended up as world champions. he; Do you think anyone in Italy cared how they achieved it?
England have the potential to be a much more expansive team than that.
Jude Bellingham has had a couple of quiet games but I would rather that happened in the group stages than the knockouts.
He is a game changer who can conjure something to win a match in a split second. He can explode in the knockout stages.
It’s certainly true that, with France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Belgium all in the other half of the draw, England have the better of it.
But do not underestimate Switzerland, who England could meet in the quarter-final, or Austria, a potential semi-final opponent.
Those two teams have seriously impressed me.
They show that even without many world-class players, a team with the right chemistry and togetherness can go a long way.
Those really are two teams to watch but England will know they have a genuine chance of making the final, however frustrating things have been until now.
